Interpol red alert for another Panama fugitive

INTERPOL has been asked to issue a red alert for the capture and extradition of businessman Ricky Ricardo Calvo, linked to a money laundering investigation involving jailed former Supreme Court Judge Alejandro Moncada Luna.

The request comes from The Special Prosecutor against Organized Crime,
relating to an investigation of money laundering linked to accounts and companies of Moncada Luna.
Prosecutors say Ricky Calvo needs to be interrogated. He appears as a signatory of societies Summer Venture Inc. and Rica About, from which, according to judicial investigations, funds were transferred to Moncada Luna, sentenced in March to five years for unjust enrichment and falsification of documents.

Calvo’s whereabouts are unknown. He recently sent a letter to the National Immigration Service, to authorize the mother of his children to travel to any destination “they see fit” between 2015 and 2017.
According to statements by former vice president Felipe Pipo ( Uncle) Virzi on June 16 in the case of the alleged payment of “kickbacks” from the company Hidalgo & Hidalgo (H & H), responsible for the failed irrigation project system in Tonosí, Calvo is the true owner of the account Summer Venture Inc where about $10 million from H & H was deposited

Virzi was questioned week by Organized Crime Prosecutor Nahaniel Murgas and charges were leveled against him for the alleged crime of money laundering and he wasplaced under house arrest.
Virzi became part of the investigation following the statement made by Moncada Luna, that it was Pipo who loaned him $750,000 for the purchase of two apartments for $1.7 million.

However, his lawyer, Guillermina McDonald said this week that the loan to Moncada Luna was “faked” to justify the purchase of the apartments.

With this new angle, Murgas could call Moncada Luna from El Renacer prison
to confront him with Virzi’s statement.

The investigations are also targeting other businessmen who could be involved including Julian Paris and Jorge Espino, executives of Conceptos y Espacios who are detained at the headquarters of the Directorate of Judicial Investigation (DIJ)

The accusations against the two men emerged after Conceptos y Espacios got a contract for the construction and renovation of regional offices of the judiciary when Moncada Luna was president of the Court, 2012-2013

The prosecutor is reviewing the contracts awarded for the construction of the regional headquarters of the judiciary in Santiago, Veraguas, and the remodeling of the Maritime Court, in Ancon.

Initially, the contract was awarded Conceptosy Espacios, for $8.2 million, but after several addendums the amount rose to $10 million. A few days after receiving an advance of money, the company wrote a check for $400,000 to Cubemu Corporation, SA, linked to Moncada Luna.
Judicial sources told La Prensa that in the coming days businessmen Francisco Filiú Nigaglioni and Oscar Rivera, linked to the company Omega Engineering, Inc., which built the West Panama City court will be investigated.
Maria del Pilar Fernandez, wife of Moncada Luna, has been banned from leaving the country.
The prosecution has also remanded in custody Maria Gabriela Reyna Lopez, of Reyna y Asociados, which allegedly moved half a million dollars to companies linked with Moncada Luna. Reports La Prensa.